Blogs

Responding to the important Climate Change Committee report on reducing emissions from land use and preparing for climate change, I thought it best not to get too aeriated by the tweet from chief executive Chris Stark to the effect that now is the time to start thinking about how we use land.
Just f...

I suppose inviting a controversialist to chair anything is a way of securing attention for it but, as a process, it is not without its pitfalls. It is, on the other hand, a good way of diverting attention from some other aspect of the process you wish people to ignore.
Professor Sir Roger Scruton, n...

Population growth, housing challenges and climate change are all things we need to take very seriously, nowhere more so than in the location of new development.
So it is really disappointing when a well-intentioned and carefully thought-out initiative intended to address these issues comes up with t...

Transit-oriented-development urged

A paper from the Campaign to Protect Rural England has urged adoption of transit-oriented-development to create more homes and vibrant communities, while reducing pressure for greenfield development.

Making the Link makes a case for TOD in medium to small towns as well as the larger settlements where it has traditionally been used in North America and elsewhere.

"To build the homes we need and make our towns attractive for residents and businesses, housing development and transport must go hand in hand," said the paper‘s author Trinley Walker.

"Good access to public transport should be an important factor when councils make decisions about where to build houses, yet it often gets sidelined. This means that in many towns the potential for regeneration, quality housing and better connected communities is missed."

CPRE says TOD, which it calls public-transport-oriented-development, emphasises density, diversity and design and is consistent with the Smart Growth approach.

But while traditional TOD approaches have emphasised densification of low-density areas in larger towns and cities to produce better balanced and less car-dependent centres, CPRE says the focus should be on hub towns with populations between 10,000 and 30,000.

The paper sets out how councils could identify sites, how such work could be incentivized and recommends tax increment financing as a suitable mechanism.